She followed as he weaved through the crowd, and before she noticed just where he was leading her, he"d opened a door and ushered her inside a room that appeared to be someone"s office. "This is my friend Bronson"s office," he said. "He won"t be here for another hour or so."
She turned on him with narrowed eyes. "I didn"t mean this this private, Donovan." private, Donovan."
"Relax, I promise not to bite. Have a seat and get whatever is bothering you off your chest."
At that moment he looked at her chest. Except for the lone b.u.t.ton undone at the top, her blouse was decent enough. She had dressed appropriately, not wanting to give him any ideas. But right now her nipples were hardened peaks pressing through the material of her blouse. And the man didn"t miss seeing anything.
The darkening of his eyes made her pulse rate increase. "Okay, I"ll sit," she said. Anything to s.h.i.+ft his attention from her chest.
"So what"s on your mind, Natalie?"
She rolled her eyes. "You tell me since you"re the one who demanded this meeting."
"Oh, yes, the issue of my replacement for a cleaning lady. I expected you to come today."
"And I told you why I didn"t. We slept together so I can no longer work for you. You can stand here all day and all night and say that you employ my aunt not me, but it doesn"t matter. In my mind I"ve slept with the boss."
"And that bothers you?"
"Yes, it bothers me." She wished he would sit down. He He was bothering her. Standing made her totally aware of how s.e.xy he looked. was bothering her. Standing made her totally aware of how s.e.xy he looked.
As if he"d read her mind, he moved away from the door to lean against the edge of the desk, facing her. He slipped his hand into his pockets, and her gaze s.h.i.+fted first to his pockets and then to his zipper. Did the man always have to look aroused around her?
"How long have you worked for the agency?" he asked.
"Why?" She returned her gaze back to his face, certain that a blush flamed her features.
"Because you"re a very beautiful woman, which accounts for the reason I"m very attracted to you," he said. "And I find it odd that none of your other male clients have ever hit on you before."
The sound of his deep and husky voice sent s.h.i.+vers down her spine. She inhaled deeply, thinking that now would be a good time to tell him that she did not clean houses for a living and that she was a chemistry professor at an Ivy League university. But a part of her couldn"t risk that he would act like all the others and feel threatened by her achievements and see her as an intellectual geek.
"Natalie?"
"Well, believe it. All my other clients have been nothing but gentlemen."
He chuckled. "And I"m sure none of them ever found you in their bed. But still, I"m curious as to how long you"ve been with the agency."
She shrugged. "Long enough."
"And before that what did you do?"
She wondered why he was asking these questions. "I was in school," she said, which wasn"t an all-out lie.
"Do you ever plan to go back to school?"
That question was easy enough to answer. "Yes, I plan to go back in the fall."
He nodded. "That"s good, because I"m a proponent of education."
He didn"t have to know it but so was she.
"How far along are you in your studies?"
She tilted her head back and looked at him. "Why all the questions?"
"I"m trying to get to know you."
His response surprised her. "Why?"
Her question was a good one, Donovan thought. Why did he want to know more about Natalie Ford? And especially now when he needed to stay focused on SC. They"d had another meeting in Chance"s office yesterday, and Bas had reported that suspicious activities were still going on and that the Gleeve-Ware formula was still in high demand.
"Donovan?"
His thoughts were pulled back to Natalie. He knew it was insane, totally unreasonable to want a woman so much, but then, maybe it wasn"t. That night his body had responded to her in a way it had never responded to another woman, and even now he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her with a pa.s.sion that had his heart racing. But the wanting, the desire, had to be mutual. It had to be what she wanted too. There was only one way to find out. She had resisted his seduction once, only to come to him on her own terms. Would she do so again? It was a challenge worth probing.
"Yes?" he finally answered.
"Why do you want to get to know me?"
"Come here and find out," he said, straightening his stance and holding out his hand in an invitation.
Natalie sucked in a deep breath, disgusted with the way her body was responding to Donovan. She moistened her lips before saying in a not so convincing tone of voice, "No."
"You sure you"re not as hungry to taste me the way I"m hungry to taste you? I want to taste your b.r.e.a.s.t.s again, put a nipple in my mouth and make love to it with my tongue. And then the icing on the cake is when I taste you there in your very feminine place. You don"t know how much I want to savor that particular spot again."
The man was killing her softly with his words. She could feel herself getting drenched between the legs. "We agreed that night was supposed to be one and done. It was just a one-night fling," she heard herself say in a breathless voice.
"Did we? Was it? And don"t we have the right to change our minds if it suits our needs, our purposes and our wants?" he asked.
Should they change their minds? she wondered. And who would they hurt if they did? They were both adults who had to answer to no one. And there was no way she could deny how much she enjoyed him as a lover. So why was she fighting her desire for him? Farrah thought a full-fledged affair with him was just the thing Natalie needed, an affair that lasted as long as they wanted it to, at least until she returned to Princeton. And like Farrah had said, denying him was easier said than done.
But then there were those emotions she was trying hard to keep at bay, emotions that swamped her whenever she thought about him, or was around him, like now. She studied his features and saw the intensity in his penetrating gaze. Yes, they had the right to change their minds. She eased out of the chair and took a step toward him and placed her hand in his.
"No promises," he said, pulling her closer into his arms.
She understood and she agreed. "No promises," she repeated, realizing at that moment with a sinking heart that she was slowly drowning in emotions he was stirring within her. Emotions she"d never felt for another man since Karl. Emotions she couldn"t fight any longer.
A moan flowed from her throat when he captured her mouth with his. Immediately his taste set her entire body on fire. When he deepened the kiss with a greediness that she felt all the way to her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body closer to his. The bulge behind his zipper was potent, an indication of where things could be headed, and she knew if he led her there she would hopelessly follow.
The ring of his cell phone had them pulling apart, but he didn"t intend to let her go too far. He held on to her elbow while fis.h.i.+ng the cell phone out of his jeans pocket.
"h.e.l.lo." His tone was one of irritation at being interrupted.
She watched as his eyes widened and heard the concern in his voice when he asked, "When?"
And then he responded to whatever he was told by saying. "I"m on my way."
He quickly put his phone back in the pocket of his jeans and then said to her. "Come on, let"s go." He had a firm grip on her hand.
She blinked. "Go where?" she asked, while letting him guide her out of the door with him.
He glanced over his shoulder. "To the hospital. One of my sisters-in-law, Jocelyn, has been rushed there."
Natalie stopped in her tracks, which caused him to do the same. Her eyes widened in alarm. "Oh, my goodness. What happened? What"s wrong?"
A smile touched the corner of his lips when he said, "She"s having a baby."
The rush was on, and within minutes Natalie found herself strapped into Donovan"s two-seat Mercedes convertible sports car. He was racing down the interstate, most of the time not adhering to the speed limit, but she couldn"t help love the feel of her hair blowing in the wind. Adrenaline was flowing through her veins. At the moment she didn"t want to think about how much emission from his car was probably polluting the air. Nor did she want to consider just how the emissions were being absorbed in the upper troposphere at mid-to-high lat.i.tudes.
She glanced over at Donovan. What had he been thinking to ask her to come with him to the hospital where his family would probably be gathered? How was he going to explain her presence?
One thing she knew about being placed in unexpected situations was to be prepared whenever possible. That propelled her to say, "Tell me about your family, Donovan."
He glanced briefly at her and smiled before turning his attention back to the road. "That"s a tall order since the Steele family is a big one. My grandparents had six sons and two daughters. Two sons moved from Arizona and settled here back in the sixties and started the Steele Corporation; a manufacturing company. My father was one of the brothers, and my uncle was the other. Uncle Harold died of lung cancer around twelve years ago, leaving his share of the company to his wife and three daughters, Vanessa, Taylor and Cheyenne. My father retired eight years ago and left his share to his four sons. My brother Chance is the oldest and CEO. Sebastian, whom we call Bas, is the second oldest and is a troubleshooter in the company. Morgan is brother number three and heads the research and development department, and I"m the youngest. I manage the product administration department."
She nodded. "Your cousins, the three females, do they work for the company, as well?"
"Only Vanessa. She"s over our PR department. Taylor and Cheyenne have seats on the board of directors. Taylor is a wealth a.s.set manager and she and her husband live in DC, and Cheyenne is a retired model. She and her husband live here in Charlotte and had triplets less than a year ago, so she"s pretty busy these days."
Natalie chuckled. "I can imagine. Triplets. Wow. So who"s having a baby now?"
"Bas"s wife, Jocelyn. But in another month we"ll be doing this scene again since Morgan"s wife, Lena, is expecting, as well and is due to deliver in September."
He continued talking about his family, and Natalie heard the warm affection in his voice. He also told her about his other cousins that were spread all over the country and how close all Steeles were. She drew in a deep breath when he pulled into the hospital"s parking lot, still not sure why he had asked her to come. But at the moment she couldn"t think of any other place she"d rather be than with him.
Chapter 14.
The miracle of life always amazed him, Donovan thought, gazing into the very happy and smiling face of his brother as he held his newborn baby daughter in his arms. They had named the baby Susan after Jocelyn"s favorite aunt. Jocelyn"s sister Leah, who"d given birth to a daughter earlier that year, had named her daughter after their mother who"d pa.s.sed away when Jocelyn and Leah had been young girls.
Donovan glanced over at Natalie who was sitting in a chair next to Kylie, Vanessa and a very pregnant Lena. All four women, who"d had tears in their eyes earlier were talking to Jocelyn, who looked rather relaxed after giving birth. He looked at Chance and Morgan to find both of them staring at him instead of their newborn niece, and he knew why. They were still in shock. This was the first time he"d ever brought a woman to a family gathering of any kind, and they were curious as to why. h.e.l.l, he was trying to figure out the answer to that question himself. All he knew was that at the time he"d gotten the call from Chance to tell him that Bas was on his way to the hospital with Jocelyn, he hadn"t been ready to let Natalie out of his sight.
And then he"d talked her ears off while en route to the hospital. She"d asked about his family, and that had opened him up. Instead of sticking to the basic facts, he had ended up telling her practically everything, including information about the Steele brothers" weekly Sat.u.r.day morning on the basketball court. He also told her about how Chance had met Kylie, how Bas had met Jocelyn; how relentlessly Morgan had pursued Lena; how far Cameron had gone in his pursuit of Vanessa and about Cheyenne and the triplets. Never had he shared so much information about his family to any woman.
And then there were the women in his family who"d latched onto Natalie the moment he had walked into the waiting room with her by his side. He hadn"t had to introduce them since they had proceeded to introduce themselves. It didn"t take a rocket scientist to see they were just as shocked as his brothers.
"So what do you think about my baby girl, Donovan?"
He glanced over at Bas, who was still wearing a proud smile even after the nurse had come to take baby Susan and place her back Jocelyn"s arms. "She looks tiny, not as tiny as Athena, Venus and Troy looked when they were born, of course," he said of Cheyenne"s triplets who"d been born premature. "But she"s still a tiny thing."
He chuckled. "It will be fun watching her grow up, and I hope when she gets older that you don"t play the big bad wolf of a daddy to her dates."
Bas grinned. "I won"t unless she brings home a man like her uncle Donovan."
It was a joke but Bas"s words were still on Donovan"s mind when he and Natalie walked out of the hospital to the parking lot. Was he really that bad that his own brother found his ways with women despicable? Bas hadn"t been an angel before he"d married Jocelyn. In fact his engagement to Ca.s.sandra Tisdale gave Donovan the shudders every time he thought about it. No one knew how glad the family had been when Bas had come to his senses and broken off the engagement.
But still, Donovan knew that he would be the first to admit that none of his brothers had ever been diehard bachelors, at least not with the concentration that he had. He was a proud playa card member. Did he have any regrets about keeping one close to his hip? Not really. But he knew that although he"d claimed otherwise, eventually one day he would settle down. He had just refused to think about doing so.
Deciding to switch gears, he thought back on his family, namely his parents. They had arrived, and thanks to his mother, there was no chance of anyone else holding the baby any time soon. And after introducing Natalie to his parents, he wanted to get her out of here before his mother could start the inquisition, which he figured would happen had they lingered.
After pulling out of the parking lot and merging with traffic, he glanced over at Natalie. She was quiet, and he couldn"t help wondering what she was thinking. Like everyone else, she"d taken a turn holding the baby and he doubted he would ever forget the way she looked with the infant in her arms. She"d had that maternal look on her face, and he"d known at that moment that motherhood was definitely in her future.
"You have a nice family, Donovan."
He glanced over at her briefly. "Thanks. What about you? I know you have your aunt. Any parents or siblings?"
She shook her head. "No, I was an only child. However, I was raised by my aunt and uncle. Their son, Eric, is five years older than me. My mother gave me to my aunt and uncle when I was just a few days old and kept trucking back to California. She would visit on occasion but did nothing but cause trouble whenever she did so-usually to get money out of my aunt and uncle by threatening to take me away if they didn"t pay up."
She paused for a moment, and he figured she was regrouping her thoughts, reliving the past. He couldn"t help wondering if she felt deprived of her mother"s love and attention.
"Her boyfriend stabbed her to death when I was ten," she said, continuing. "It had been four years since I"d seen her, and when they sent her body back here for burial she was nothing more than a stranger to me. My aunt, uncle and cousin were all the family I had and all that I needed."
"Where"s your uncle?"
"He died when I was in my teens. And my cousin, Eric, is in the State Department and works for the emba.s.sy in Australia."
When the car came to a traffic light, he tilted his head to look over at her at the same time she glanced at him. Their gazes locked, held for a second. He knew he had to ask what he should have asked her before they"d made love, but he hadn"t because at the time it really hadn"t mattered since it was a one-and-done sort of thing, as she liked putting it.
"Who broke your heart to make you take a hiatus from men?"
She didn"t answer right away. Instead she broke eye contact with him and looked ahead through the s.h.i.+eld. "Karl, the heartbreaker and manipulator. He practically stripped me of my self-confidence when it came to relations.h.i.+ps by convincing me I was lacking in certain areas." She glanced over at him. "You proved him wrong."
He remained silent for a moment and then he said, "I"m glad I was able to do so."
Natalie smiled. "I"m glad, too."
The interior of the car got quiet again, and she would have loved to know what was going on inside Donovan"s head. Why had he taken her to a place where he"d known his family would be congregating? Everyone had been nice but more than mildly curious. She could tell. That only led her to believe bringing a woman around his family was not his norm. She had liked everyone-his cousins, his sisters-in-law, his brothers and his parents. They"d made her feel right at home. Included. No one had asked her a lot of questions, and she was glad of that. She would not have wanted to lie to them.
She hadn"t lied to Donovan just now. She"d told him about Karl. What was her rationale in doing that? It wasn"t like it would mean anything to him in the scheme of things. But for some reason she had wanted him to know sharing a bed with him had been therapeutic as well as pleasurable.
"Do you mind if I drop by my house a minute to get something before I take you back to the cafe?"